January 18, 2014

DIY World Map Shirt - with tutorial

When my hubby was genuinely impressed with the Urban Outfitter inspired t-shirt and asked for a similar one I knew right away what to make for him: a world map shirt. He likes globes and maps and part of his office decoration consist of a world map and a nice 6 (and counting) globe collection.

His t-shirt was part of my handmade Xmas present series but didn't include it in my previous post as I wanted to put together a little tutorial for this one.

All you need to create your own world map tee is: freezer paper, craft knife and puffy fabric paint.

Start by printing out a world map photo on regular print paper. I wanted my image to be big enough to cover the whole front size of the tee and if you want the same you'll have to tile your photo using two sheets.

I'm not sure if the image can be printed directly on freezer paper - I'll have to give it a try next time!

Place the freezer paper on top of your printed image (shiny side of the freezer paper down) and trace the image onto your freezer paper.
Keep it as simple (only the continents) or as detailed (continents and islands) as you wish. It helps if you staple the two sheets together.

Place the freezer paper on cardboard and cut the image using a craft knife but don't take the pieces out! Iron the entire freezer paper sheet onto your tee (shiny side of the freezer paper down) and afterwards peel off the paper leaving on the t-shirt all the pieces you've previously cut .

This way you make sure all the continents and islands are in place and at the right distance from one another.

If you plan on a simplified version of the world, you can also choose to cut out the continents and iron them one by one onto the shirt.

Trace a fine line along your stencil using puffy fabric pain. Don't draw your line too close to the stencil but leave a small break between the two.

I did half of the painting and let it dry before starting on the other half.

Once the paint is dry you can peel the freezer paper off and enjoy your elaborate work.

That's a great idea! Yes you can print on freezer paper! I do it all the time so i don't ruin my original patterns, and it saves me pinning time since i just iron it to my fabric and cut around. They even make print size sheets.